AoP Guru Shane Countryman, Round 2

I cornered our good friend Shane for another interview, picking up where the last one left off.  My questions are in bold, his responses in regular text.  I hope you find this helpful.  I'd also like to thank Shane again for his time.

Shane, I've recently been relatively sick, and I put my training in the couch to 5k program on hold for about 2 weeks, while recovering.  I was starting week 3 in the program when I took this break.   Would I be ok to jump right back in where I left off, starting week 3?  Have I lost my previous level of fitness in the 2 weeks I took off while coming back from this illness?  How long does it take for someone's level of fitness to degrade, on average?

I did a quick search through a few books I have and found nothing concrete.  It seems to be a personal type thing.  I've heard anything from a total loss of fitness gain in 4 weeks, to a 10% loss per week.  I would start back at square one, but I think you'll find that you could progress through the fitness plan more quickly than the first time.  Just try not to push it too quickly though, remember you have been ill and it will take a few difficult workouts to feel like you're back in the swing of things.

Honestly, I still feel right on track, and feel no real loss of fitness.  I've also been able to maintain my weight during this period, although my eating regimen has been poor, to say the least.  Eating really made me feel better, helped me get through the day several times during the course of this illness.  I wonder what the connection was there?  Anyway, I might do the week 2 workout tonight to get back on track, then start week 3 when I feel I am ready.  This brings me to my next question.  I have successfully started this running program, as has another AoP team member, and a mutual friend of ours as well.  We're all in similar situations, we're plenty overweight.  Are there other workouts/exercises that we should be doing in the off days to help strengthen our bodies to hold up to the rigors of being large people that are doing a running program?  Or, would be better served to completely rest on those days?

If you feel up to it I'd try to mix in 2-3 (30-40 min) weight training sessions a week.  Start by focusing on your major muscle groups to maximize your calorie burning potential, like your chest, quads, and gluts.  Realize that soreness is common when weight training, but pain or extreme discomfort is not.  Our bodies are pretty amazing machines, they'll tell us when we can push harder and when we should ease up.

Can you give specific exercises to recommend?  What I mean is, which lifts would be best, and how would it be best to break them up?  Would you do all of the muscle groups in each session, or have a chest, back and arms day, then a legs and trunk day?  Basically, what I'm asking for, is what kind of regimen would suggest for a guy like me?  Is it high-rep low weight, or hi-weight low rep, and for the benefit of our readers, what is the difference here?

There are a myriad of workouts to be found on the web, I personally like menshealth.com.  They have them broken down into a workouts that can be mixed and matched to be fitted to your own needs.  They even have short instructional videos to so how each exercise is done.  When I take my volleyball team to weight train, (30 min, 3x/week) we alternate arms and back with legs and core days.  Typically, high weight/low rep training is to increase and develop strength, while low weight/ high rep is to tone, sculpt, and burn fat.  Lower weight (it still should be work to lift, but can finish 3 sets of 15 reps) is definitely the way AoP members would lean toward when deciding to weight train.

No gym membership?  You don't have to rush out and add an extra $50/ month to your budget.  There are countless exercises that can be done at home with household things and your own body weight.  Old School push-ups, curl-ups , dips and squats have real benefits.

Are there any group training methods that you think we could apply to the AoP cause?  Things that we could get together and do maybe once a week or so, that would build team camraderie and serve to break up and add variety to our personal workouts?  We've been having some fun outings, with the kickball and paintball, and I believe that we are going to be doing a small hike at a local state park soon, but are there more structured team workouts that you can think of?

I love that the fact that you guys have structured outings.  One of the best predictors of someone sticking with a workout plan is whether or not they have a partner (or group) support system in place.  This is beneficial in two ways (1) for, obviously, mental and emotional support and (2) if one has a partner they are much less likely to skip a workout or to workout less vigorously than if that person were flying solo.  Not wanting to be a failure to your friend(s) is a great motivator. 

Some group exercises that can be done weekly are: scheduled runs, any kind of pick-up type sport activity at the park or gym, or even an online Wii challenge.  When on our honeymoon last summer, my wife and I were walking through a park and a herd of about 50 joggers plowed right through the center of the trail.  It was cool to see so many people commited and active working toward a common fitness goal.

So we're basically on the right track with our outings.  That's really encouraging.  I'm out of questions for this round.  Is there anything you'd like to say or is on your mind that we haven't covered?  The floor is yours.  Any message you want to send to our contributors or our readers?

I would like to say how awesome I think the group is staying committed to their weight loss goals and to each other in the group.  There is real power in numbers.  Discipline is the single greatest character trait a person can display, at least in my experience. Keep up the outstanding work!

(Shane Countryman, fitness guru, coach, soccer fan...oh well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad)

Thanks Again, Shane.  You rock.